


Written in Gold

by viola_rae10



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Trans, Trans Male Character, enjoy lol, he's also asian specifically korean, kaz is trans fight me, so I thought it would be really cool for him to have this in his native language, this whole thing is basically an elongated headcanon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-12 01:33:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18001292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viola_rae10/pseuds/viola_rae10
Summary: Something as simple as a necklace can mean the world to Kaz Brekker.





	Written in Gold

There were only a few things that Kaz would rarely take off: his gloves, and his necklace.

It wasn’t anything special. It was a gold chain, just long enough to tuck into his shirt every day. Hardly any tarnish was on it because he took such good care of it. It was special to him because of its two pendants. One was his own name, and the other was his older brother’s name.

He got the necklace when he was younger, on his eighth birthday. It was a present from Jordie. A few weeks before his birthday, he’d told Jordie a big secret. He could remember the conversation well, every detail burned into his memory.

Little Kaz had wandered into their shared bedroom one afternoon, stomach in knots. Pa was not home (he was too nervous to tell him in the first place), and this was the only time he would be able to do this.

“What do you need, kid?” Jordie had said, looking up from his paper for school. His expression changed when he saw Kaz’s nervousness. “What’s wrong?”

Kaz couldn’t bear to bring his gaze up from the floor, nor could he slow his speech down for his confession. “CanyoustartcallingmeKazbecauseIㄧ”

“Hey, hey, slow down!” Jordie put everything down and came over to him, kneeling down. “What did you say?”

He had managed to bring his eyes up to look at his older brother. “... Call me Kaz. A-A boy’s name.”

Jordie narrowed his eyes slightly, trying to make sense of what was said. “Alright… Kaz. Do you want me to tell Pa that he has two sons now as a surprise?” He grinned, but it fell quickly when he saw the horror on Kaz’s face.

“No! No, Jordie, please, he can’t know!” Kaz was already near tears from telling Jordie, but the possibility, the mere thought, of Pa finding out was enough to release the waterworks. “He can’t know, he’ll be so mad, he’llㄧ”

“O-Okay! Okay, Kaz, calm down. I won’t tell him. I promise.” 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A month later, on the morning of Kaz’s birthday, he woke up to a small box on his pillow. Jordie was already awake, a smile on his face, like he was waiting for Kaz to wake up.

“This is a gift you can’t show Pa, so I brought it up here,” he said quietly, “So, saeng-il chughahae*, Kaz.”

Kaz looked up at his brother and smiled before opening the small box. It was a necklace, a gold pendant on a gold chain. When he looked at the pendant, he realized it was his name as on it in Hangul: 카즈.**

“If you don’t wanna tell Pa, you’ll have to hide it under your shirt all the time,” Jordie continued. “I got the chain long enough so it wouldn’t peek out the top of your shirt.”

Kaz just stared at it in awe. He didn’t have anything to say for several seconds. “How did you manage to get this?” They didn’t have a lot of money, and to get something specially made…

“That’s for me to know, and you to find out.”

Kaz just laughed and slipped it on, tucking the pendant under the collar of his shirt.

Pa never found out about Kaz, or his present for his birthday. He died soon after Kaz’s birthday, and it wasn’t long before Kaz ended up alone.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaz has spent years gathering as much money as he could in the years that followed Jordie’s death. One of the first things he did was find a jewelry shop that did custom pendants.

He strolled in, his traditional black coat and cane in a gloved hand. He headed up to the counter and dropped his golden chain on the glass.

“I’d like to add another pendant to this necklace,” he said in his raspy voice, “I have the characters written down.” He placed a slightly crumpled piece of paper next to the chain.

The jewel looked at the piece of paper, furrowed his brows slightly in confusion, but nodded anyway. “Two hundred kruge.”

So that’s what Jordie paid all those years ago, or at least around that. Inflation may have increased the price for just about everything. Two hundred kruge wasn’t a lot to Kaz now, but it was when he was younger. They didn’t have the chance to spend that much money, even when living with Pa. At least he got his answer over ten years later.

A few hours later, Kaz returned to get his necklace. To his delight, it came out perfect. It was another pendant, reading “조디”***, added underneath his own name by a smaller chain. The jeweler had even cleaned the first one for him.

“What do those mean?” The jeweler asked as Kaz made his way out, “Just out of curiosity.”

“The first one is my own name,” Kaz replied, “and the one you just made is a relative long lost. In remembrance.”

**Author's Note:**

> I used Google Translate to find these, so I apologize if these aren't 100% accurate. If you speak Korean and you want me to make adjustments, please don't hesitate to let me know!
> 
> * 생일 축하해 (saeng-il chughahae) = Happy birthday  
> ** 카즈 (kajeu) = Kaz  
> *** 조디 (jodi) = Jordie


End file.
